Facebook Blurb # 17 – A Ticket to Ride

In the Sixties, before the advent of the MRT, LRT, Uber and GrabTaxi, one simply hailed any of the buses that plied the route to one’s destination. If you were riding a JD Transit liner, a conductress, clad in a crisp khaki uniform with pink trim, black regulation shoes and white socks, courteously collected your centavos, placed them in an apron-like front pocket, and issued you a ticket (you were admonished to keep them while on board). A few meters before your bus stop – depending on where you sat – you either tapped the driver on his shoulder, or yelled “Para po!”, then navigated your way down the aisle, and gingerly inched down the step board onto the street.

The word “bus” is a truncation of the French “omnibus” (from the Latin “omnis,” meaning “for all”), which referred to a long, horse-drawn vehicle that carried people. Apart from JD Transit, other familiar bus liners of the 1960-1970s era included DM Transit, De Dios Transit, California Bus Lines, MD Transit, Fred Liner, Yujuico Transit, Saulog Transit and Philippine Rabbit.

Drive down memory lane with these recollections from an era with wide, traffic-free avenues, and a summer climate that you could breeze through without air conditioning.